Moving to Wilmington helped indie rocker Tracy Shedd finish sunny new album
‘The Carolinas’ comes out on Friday, Sept. 20, the same day Shedd plays a downtown gig at Bourgie Nights with De La Noche.
For her new album “The Carolinas,” Tracy Shedd wanted to make an upbeat record.
The Wilmington indie rocker’s latest effort — it comes out Sept. 20 on Fort Lowell Records (digital) and Science Project Records (vinyl) — certainly qualifies, its sound far removed from the stripped down, acoustic material of 2013 record “Arizona.” On Friday, Shedd plays an album release show at Bourgie Nights in downtown Wilmington with electronic soul and rock band De La Noche.
“The Carolinas” was written when Shedd and husband/bandmate James Tritten lived in Raleigh, where they moved after eight years in Tucson, Arizona. A few months before Hurricane Florence they moved to Wilmington. The storm mattered little, endearing Shedd to the area even more and helping her finish a record that had lain dormant for two years.
“It’s a long time to sit on a record. It’s not normal for me. Unfortunately, we had deaths in our family and needed time to heal,” Shedd said. “I wanted to make sure the album was still what I envisioned. I wasn’t there yet. I think Wilmington helped me with that. It cheered us up, and we made great friends. I felt like I could finish.”
Shedd’s sunny vocals were recorded in Wilmington, and Tritten mixed the synth-heavy album. “Santa Fe” echoes Tucson with a Western feel that meets dance-floor energy. Building like daybreak, “Free Love” is like a song in a Sofia Coppola movie. “Kissing and Romancing” is Beach Boys as gnarly garage rock. (“The washed out, distorted sound was on purpose,” Shedd said. “We wanted a loud, noisy song.”) “Letters” is spare, a song Shedd said is “about having people you love in your life. They’re important to you, and you should share it with them.”
One reviewer smartly described “Arizona” as a candle flame of a record, an intimate, bright light in a dark room. “The Carolinas” is very different, a candy-colored daydream that reflects her move East.
As a child, Shedd wanted to be a classical pianist. After her parent’s divorce, Shedd lived with her father and the grand piano stayed with Mom.
“I think by default I picked up the guitar because that was easier to transport and play,” she said. “I (had) keyboards but it was easier for me to write on guitar. I think that’s changing the older I get. It’s easier to write on the piano. I’m more open minded to play around a bit. That was ‘The Carolinas.’ I was open to no guitar on (songs). Let’s play all synth on this.”
